Determining whether to maintain information describing a group of online system users specified by a third-party system based on revenue from content selection based on the group and objectives for presentation of selected content

ABSTRACT

An online system receives information describing a target group of online system users from a third party system and stores the information describing the target group. The online system subsequently uses the target group to select content for presentation to one or more users. For example, users included in the target group are identified as eligible to be presented with content items. Content items are associated with objectives satisfied when a specified interaction with the content item, or with an object associated with the content item, is received. Based on revenue obtained by the online system from presenting content based on the target group as well as interactions satisfying objectives associated with various presented content, the online system determines a monetization value for the target group. Based on the monetization value, the online system determines whether to continue storing the information describing the target group.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/461,361, filed Aug. 15, 2014, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

This disclosure relates generally to identifying users of an online system, and more particularly to maintaining information describing groups of online system users specified by a third party system.

An online system allows users to connect to and to communicate with other users of the online system. Users create profiles on an online system that are tied to their identities and include information about the users, such as interests and demographic information. The users may be individuals or entities such as corporations or charities. Content items are presented to various users by the online system to encourage users to interact with the online system.

As the amount of content provided by the online system increases, users may be presented with an increasing amount of content in which the users have little interest. To provide users with content more likely to be relevant, content items may be associated with targeting criteria specifying characteristics of users eligible to be presented with the content item. This limits presentation of a content item to users having characteristics satisfying the targeting criteria.

While the online system maintains targeting criteria for identifying groups of users satisfying various targeting criteria, a third party system may provide information to the online system identifying groups of online system users. Conventional online systems merely store information from third party systems identifying groups of users, allowing a third party system to identify a group of users to receive content. However, groups identified by a third party system may be duplicative of groups the online system may identify based on locally-maintained targeting criteria, limiting the usefulness to the online system of storing information identifying the group.

SUMMARY

An online system receives information from a third party system describing a target group that includes multiple users of the online system. Identifying a target group allows the third party system to specify a customized group of online system users to receive content. Information describing the target group may identify specific users of the online system or may include information specifying one or more characteristics of users of the online system in the target group. The online system stores the received information describing the target group and determines whether to continue storing the information describing the target group by determining a monetization value for the target group when the target group is used to select content for presentation to one or more users.

For example, a content item is associated with targeting criteria that specifies the target group, so the content item is eligible to users who are included in the target group but not eligible for presentation to users who are not included in the target group. Targeting criteria associated with a content item may specify multiple target groups or combinations of target groups to further refine users eligible to be presented with the content item. For example, targeting criteria associated with a content item specifies a combination of target groups stored by the online system, so the content item is eligible for presentation to users included in the combination of target groups but is not eligible for presentation to users included in less than the combination of target groups. Content items eligible for presentation to a user are included in a selection process performed by the online system that selects one or more of the content items eligible for presentation to the user. The selected content items are then presented to the user

The online system may receive revenue when a content item is presented to users. When a content item is eligible for presentation to a user because the user is included in the target group and the content item is presented to the user, the online system determines a monetization value for the target group based at least in part on the amount of revenue received from presentation of the content item. The online system also determines the monetization value for the target group based at least in part on one or more objectives associated with the content item. An objective associated with a content item specifies a goal for presenting the content item, with the objective satisfied when an interaction corresponding to the objective is received with the content item or with content associated with the content item. Different objectives for presentation of a content item are satisfied by different interactions with the content item, so certain objectives are more easily satisfied than others. For example, an objective for a user presented with a content item to express a preference for an object associated with the content item is more likely to be satisfied than an objective for a user presented with the content item to provide a post to the object associated with the content item because the objective to express a preference for the object associated with the content item is satisfied when the user performs a simpler or easier interaction that is more likely to be performed by online system users.

To account for the differences in satisfying different objectives, the online system accounts for objectives associated with content items that are presented to users based on whether the users are included in the target group when determining the monetization score for the target group. The monetization score for the target group is based on an objective score determined as an amount of revenue received by the online system for presenting content items to users because the users are included in the target group associated with an objective per received interaction from the users presented with the content items that satisfy the objective weighted by a value indicating a difficulty in satisfying the objective; combining objective scores for various objectives associated with content items presented to users because the user are included in the target group allows the online system to determine the monetization score for the target group.

For example, the online system identifies one or more objectives associated with at least one content item including the targeting group in targeting criteria. For an identified objective, the online system determines a revenue ratio of an amount of revenue received by the online system during a time interval from presenting content items to users because the users are included in the target group to a total amount of revenue received by the online system during the time interval for presenting content items and also determines an objective ratio of a number of received interactions with content items presented to users because the users are in the target group that satisfied the identified objective to the amount of revenue received by the online system during a time interval from presenting content items associated with the identified objective to users because the users are in the target group. When determining amounts ore revenue received by the online system for presenting a content item to a user because the user is in the target group, the online system may allocate a portion of the revenue received by the online system to the target group if the user was included in multiple target groups, as further described above. Additionally, the online system determines a scaling value as a ratio of a total revenue received by the online system for presenting content items associated with the identified objective during the time interval to a total number of interactions by online system users with content items associated with the identified objective during the time interval that satisfy the identified objective. The online system calculates an objective score for the identified objective as a product of the revenue ratio, the objective ratio, and the scaling value. As different objectives may be satisfied by more infrequent interactions with content items, the scaling factor accounts for the infrequency with which certain objectives are satisfied without excessively penalizing content items associated with more difficult to satisfy objectives. The monetization value for the target group is a combination (e.g., a sum) of objective scores for multiple identified objectives.

When determining the monetization value for the target group, if a content item specifies multiple targeting groups, the amount of revenue received by the online system from presenting the content item is divided among the targeting groups. The portion of the amount of revenue allocated to a targeting group is then used when determining the monetization value of the target group. If the monetization value is less than a threshold amount, the information describing the target group is removed by the online system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system environment in which an online system operates, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an online system, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a method for maintaining groups of online system users specified by a third party system in an online system, in accordance with an embodiment.

The figures depict various embodiments for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

System Architecture

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system environment 100 for an online system 140. The system environment 100 shown by FIG. 1 comprises one or more client devices 110, a network 120, one or more third-party systems 130, and the online system 140. In alternative configurations, different and/or additional components may be included in the system environment 100.

The client devices 110 are one or more computing devices capable of receiving user input as well as transmitting and/or receiving data via the network 120. In one embodiment, a client device 110 is a conventional computer system, such as a desktop or a laptop computer. Alternatively, a client device 110 may be a device having computer functionality, such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, a smartphone or another suitable device. A client device 110 is configured to communicate via the network 120. In one embodiment, a client device 110 executes an application allowing a user of the client device 110 to interact with the online system 140. For example, a client device 110 executes a browser application to enable interaction between the client device 110 and the online system 140 via the network 120. In another embodiment, a client device 110 interacts with the online system 140 through an application programming interface (API) running on a native operating system of the client device 110, such as IOS® or ANDROID™.

The client devices 110 are configured to communicate via the network 120, which may comprise any combination of local area and/or wide area networks, using both wired and/or wireless communication systems. In one embodiment, the network 120 uses standard communications technologies and/or protocols. For example, the network 120 includes communication links using technologies such as Ethernet, 802.11, worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), 3G, 4G, code division multiple access (CDMA), digital subscriber line (DSL), etc. Examples of networking protocols used for communicating via the network 120 include multiprotocol label switching (MPLS), transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), hypertext transport protocol (HTTP), simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP), and file transfer protocol (FTP). Data exchanged over the network 120 may be represented using any suitable format, such as hypertext markup language (HTML) or extensible markup language (XML). In some embodiments, all or some of the communication links of the network 120 may be encrypted using any suitable technique or techniques.

One or more third party systems 130 may be coupled to the network 120 for communicating with the online system 140, which is further described below in conjunction with FIG. 2. In one embodiment, a third party system 130 is an application provider communicating information describing applications for execution by a client device 110 or communicating data to client devices 110 for use by an application executing on the client device. In other embodiments, a third party system 130 provides content or other information for presentation via a client device 110. A third party system 130 may also communicate information to the online system 140, such as advertisements, content, information describing a group of users of the online system 140, or information about an application provided by the third party system 130. In some embodiments, a third party system 130 may communicate information directly to the online system 140.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an architecture of the online system 140. For example, the online system 140 is a social networking system. The online system 140 shown in FIG. 2 includes a user profile store 205, a content store 210, an action logger 215, an action log 220, an edge store 225, an advertisement request (“ad request”) store 230, a target group evaluation module 235, and a web server 240. In other embodiments, the online system 140 may include additional, fewer, or different components for various applications. Conventional components such as network interfaces, security functions, load balancers, failover servers, management and network operations consoles, and the like are not shown so as to not obscure the details of the system architecture.

Each user of the online system 140 is associated with a user profile, which is stored in the user profile store 205. A user profile includes declarative information about the user that was explicitly shared by the user and may also include profile information inferred by the online system 140. In one embodiment, a user profile includes multiple data fields, each describing one or more attributes of the corresponding online system user. Examples of information stored in a user profile include biographic, demographic, and other types of descriptive information, such as work experience, educational history, gender, hobbies or preferences, location and the like. A user profile may also store other information provided by the user, for example, images or videos. In certain embodiments, images of users may be tagged with information identifying the online system users displayed in an image. A user profile in the user profile store 205 may also maintain references to actions by the corresponding user performed on content items in the content store 210 and stored in the action log 220. In some embodiments, a third party system 130 may indirectly retrieve information from the user profile store 205, subject to one or more privacy settings associated with a user profile by a user, to identify a user profile in the user profile store 205 associated with a user of the third party system 130.

While user profiles in the user profile store 205 are frequently associated with individuals, allowing individuals to interact with each other via the online system 140, user profiles may also be stored for entities such as businesses or organizations. This allows an entity to establish a presence on the online system 140 for connecting and exchanging content with other online system users. The entity may post information about itself, about its products or provide other information to users of the online system using a brand page associated with the entity's user profile. Other users of the online system may connect to the brand page to receive information posted to the brand page or to receive information from the brand page. A user profile associated with the brand page may include information about the entity itself, providing users with background or informational data about the entity.

The content store 210 stores objects that each represent various types of content. Examples of content represented by an object include a page post, a status update, a photograph, a video, a link, a shared content item, a gaming application achievement, a check-in event at a local business, a brand page, or any other type of content. Online system users may create objects stored by the content store 210, such as status updates, photos tagged by users to be associated with other objects in the online system 140, events, groups or applications. In some embodiments, objects are received from third-party applications or third-party applications separate from the online system 140. In one embodiment, objects in the content store 210 represent single pieces of content, or content “items.” Hence, online system users are encouraged to communicate with each other by posting text and content items of various types of media to the online system 140 through various communication channels. This increases the amount of interaction of users with each other and increases the frequency with which users interact within the online system 140.

The action logger 215 receives communications about user actions internal to and/or external to the online system 140, populating the action log 220 with information about user actions. Examples of actions include adding a connection to another user, sending a message to another user, uploading an image, reading a message from another user, viewing content associated with another user, and attending an event posted by another user. In addition, a number of actions may involve an object and one or more particular users, so these actions are associated with those users as well and stored in the action log 220.

The action log 220 may be used by the online system 140 to track user actions on the online system 140, as well as actions on third party systems 130 that communicate information to the online system 140. Users may interact with various objects on the online system 140, and information describing these interactions is stored in the action log 220. Examples of interactions with objects include: commenting on posts, sharing links, checking-in to physical locations via a mobile device, accessing content items, and any other suitable interactions. Additional examples of interactions with objects on the online system 140 that are included in the action log 220 include: commenting on a photo album, communicating with a user, establishing a connection with an object, joining an event, joining a group, creating an event, authorizing an application, using an application, expressing a preference for an object (“liking” the object), and engaging in a transaction. Additionally, the action log 220 may record a user's interactions with advertisements on the online system 140 as well as with other applications operating on the online system 140. In some embodiments, data from the action log 220 is used to infer interests or preferences of a user, augmenting the interests included in the user's user profile and allowing a more complete understanding of user preferences.

The action log 220 may also store user actions taken on a third party system 130, such as an external website, and communicated to the online system 140. For example, an e-commerce website may recognize a user of an online system 140 through a social plug-in enabling the e-commerce website to identify the user of the online system 140. Because users of the online system 140 are uniquely identifiable, e-commerce websites, such as in the preceding example, may communicate information about a user's actions outside of the online system 140 to the online system 140 for association with the user. Hence, the action log 220 may record information about actions users perform on a third party system 130, including webpage viewing histories, advertisements that were engaged, purchases made, and other patterns from shopping and buying.

In one embodiment, the edge store 225 stores information describing connections between users and other objects on the online system 140 as edges. Some edges may be defined by users, allowing users to specify their relationships with other users. For example, users may generate edges with other users that parallel the users' real-life relationships, such as friends, co-workers, partners, and so forth. Other edges are generated when users interact with objects in the online system 140, such as expressing interest in a page on the online system 140, sharing a link with other users of the online system 140, and commenting on posts made by other users of the online system 140.

In one embodiment, an edge may include various features each representing characteristics of interactions between users, interactions between users and objects, or interactions between objects. For example, features included in an edge describe rate of interaction between two users, how recently two users have interacted with each other, the rate or amount of information retrieved by one user about an object, or the number and types of comments posted by a user about an object. The features may also represent information describing a particular object or user. For example, a feature may represent the level of interest that a user has in a particular topic, the rate at which the user logs into the online system 140, or information describing demographic information about a user. Each feature may be associated with a source object or user, a target object or user, and a feature value. A feature may be specified as an expression based on values describing the source object or user, the target object or user, or interactions between the source object or user and target object or user; hence, an edge may be represented as one or more feature expressions.

The edge store 225 also stores information about edges, such as affinity scores for objects, interests, and other users. Affinity scores, or “affinities,” may be computed by the online system 140 over time to approximate a user's interest in an object or another user in the online system 140 based on the actions performed by the user. A user's affinity may be computed by the online system 140 over time to approximate a user's interest in an object, a topic, or another user in the online system 140 based on actions performed by the user. Computation of affinity is further described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/978,265, filed on Dec. 23, 2010, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/690,254, filed on Nov. 30, 2012, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/689,969, filed on Nov. 30, 2012, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/690,088, filed on Nov. 30, 2012, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Multiple interactions between a user and a specific object may be stored as a single edge in the edge store 225, in one embodiment. Alternatively, each interaction between a user and a specific object is stored as a separate edge. In some embodiments, connections between users may be stored in the user profile store 205, or the user profile store 205 may access the edge store 225 to determine connections between users.

One or more advertisement requests (“ad requests”) are included in the ad request store 230. An advertisement request includes advertisement content and a bid amount. The advertisement content is text, image, audio, video, or any other suitable data presented to a user. In various embodiments, the advertisement content also includes a landing page specifying a network address to which a user is directed when the advertisement is accessed. The bid amount is associated with an ad request by an advertiser and is used to determine an expected value, such as monetary compensation, provided by an advertiser to the online system 140 if advertisement content in the ad request is presented to a user, if the advertisement content in the ad request receives a user interaction when presented, or if any suitable condition is satisfied when advertisement content in the ad request is presented to a user. For example, the bid amount specifies a monetary amount that the online system 140 receives from the advertiser if advertisement content in an ad request is displayed. In some embodiments, the expected value to the online system 140 of presenting the advertisement content may be determined by multiplying the bid amount by a probability of the advertisement content being accessed by a user.

Additionally, an advertisement request may include one or more targeting criteria specified by the advertiser. Targeting criteria included in an advertisement request specify one or more characteristics of users eligible to be presented with advertisement content in the advertisement request. For example, targeting criteria are used to identify users having user profile information, edges, or actions satisfying at least one of the targeting criteria. Hence, targeting criteria allow an advertiser to identify users having specific characteristics, simplifying subsequent distribution of content to different users. As further described below, targeting criteria included in an ad request may specify one or more target groups, so the ad request is eligible for presentation to users included in at least a threshold number of the target groups.

In one embodiment, targeting criteria may specify actions or types of connections between a user and another user or object of the online system 140. Targeting criteria may also specify interactions between a user and objects performed external to the online system 140, such as on a third party system 130. For example, targeting criteria identifies users that have taken a particular action, such as sent a message to another user, used an application, joined a group, left a group, joined an event, generated an event description, purchased or reviewed a product or service using an online marketplace, requested information from a third party system 130, installed an application, or performed any other suitable action. Including actions in targeting criteria allows advertisers to further refine users eligible to be presented with advertisement content from an advertisement request. As another example, targeting criteria identifies users having a connection to another user or object or having a particular type of connection to another user or object.

Additionally, an ad request may be associated with an objective specifying a goal of an advertiser for presentation of the ad request to online system users. For example, the objective identifies a type of interaction with the ad request or a type of interaction with one or more objects associated with the ad request by online system users presented with advertisement content included in the ad request. Examples of objectives include: online system users accessing presented advertisement content (e.g., clicking or otherwise accessing the advertisement content) from the ad request, social networking system users installing an application associated with the ad request, online system users installing an application associated with the ad request on a specific type of client device 110 (e.g., a mobile device), online system users expressing a preference for a page or other object associated with the ad request (i.e., “liking” the page), online system users expressing a preference for the ad request, online system users viewing a page associated with the ad request, online system users performing an action on a third party system 130 associated with the ad request, or any other suitable action by online system users. In one embodiment, an objective associated with an ad request is selected from a set of objectives maintained by the online system 140. An objective associated with the ad request is satisfied when a user presented with advertisement content from the ad request performs an interaction specified by the objective. For example, an objective of expressing a preference for a page associated with an ad request is satisfied when the online system 140 receive an expression of preference for the page from a user who was presented with advertisement content from the ad request. Because different objectives are satisfied by different interactions, different objectives are easier to satisfy than others. For example, objectives satisfied by more convenient or simpler interactions (e.g., expressing a preference for a page) are satisfied by a simpler interaction interactions that satisfy other objectives (e.g., installing an application on a specific type of client device 110). Additionally, objectives may be associated with content items other than ad requests in various embodiments.

The target group evaluation module 235 receives information from a third party system 130 describing a target group that includes multiple users of the online system 140, allowing the third party system 130 to identify a target group including various online system users to the online system 140. Information describing the target group may identify specific users of the online system 140 or may include information specifying one or more characteristics of users of the online system 140 in the target group. The target group evaluation module 235 stores information describing the target group and determines whether to continue storing the information describing the target group by determining a monetization value for the target group as the target group is used to select content for presentation to one or more users. In various embodiments, the monetization value is determined from an amount of revenue received by the online system 140 from content items presented to users in the target group, interactions with content items presented to users in the target group that satisfy objectives associated with the content items, and revenue received by the online system 140 from presenting content items to user in the target group for which interactions satisfying objectives associated with the content items were received. If the monetization value is less than a threshold amount, the information describing the target group is removed by the target group evaluation module 235, as further described below in conjunction with FIG. 3.

The web server 240 links the online system 140 via the network 120 to the one or more client devices 110, as well as to the one or more third party systems 130. In some embodiments, the web server 240 links the online system 140 directly to one or more third party systems 130. The web server 240 serves web pages, as well as other content, such as JAVA®, FLASH®, XML and so forth. The web server 240 may receive and route messages between the online system 140 and the client device 110, for example, instant messages, queued messages (e.g., email), text messages, short message service (SMS) messages, or messages sent using any other suitable messaging technique. A user may send a request to the web server 240 to upload information (e.g., images or videos) that are stored in the content store 210. Additionally, the web server 240 may provide application programming interface (API) functionality to send data directly to native client device operating systems, such as IOS®, ANDROID™, WEBOS® or BlackberryOS.

Maintaining User Groups Specified by a Third-Party System

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a method for maintaining a group of users provided by a third party system 130 in an online system 140. In other embodiments, the method may include different and/or additional steps than those described in conjunction with FIG. 3. Additionally, in some embodiments, the method may perform the steps described in conjunction with FIG. 3 in different orders.

The online system 140 receives 305 information from a third party system 130 that describes a target group that includes multiple users of the online system 140. In one embodiment, the online system 140 receives 305 a target group identifier associated with the target group and user identifying information associated with users of the online system 140 included in the group. For example, the target group identifier is associated with email addresses, online system user identifiers, or any other type of information capable of identifying individual users of the online system 140. As another example, the online system 140 receives 305 a target group identifier associated with one or more characteristics of online system users from the third party system 140; in this example, the target group includes online system users having at least a threshold number of the characteristics.

The information describing the target group is stored 310 by the online system 140, which selects 315 content for presentation to users based at least in part on whether the users are included in the target group. For example, a content item is associated with targeting criteria that specifies the target group, so the content item is eligible to users who are included in the target group but not eligible for presentation to users who are not included in the target group. Targeting criteria associated with a content item may specify multiple target groups or combinations of target groups to further refine users eligible to be presented with the content item. For example, targeting criteria associated with a content item specifies a combination of target groups stored by the online system 140, so the content item is eligible for presentation to users included in the combination of target groups but is not eligible for presentation to users included in less than the combination of target groups. Content items eligible for presentation to a user are included in a selection process performed by the online system 140 that selects one or more of the content items eligible for presentation to the user. The selected content items are then presented to the user.

As content is selected for presentation to users based at least in part on whether the user is included in the target group, the online system 140 may determine whether to continue to store 310 the information describing the target group based on presentation of content items associated with targeting criteria identifying the target group. If the online system 140 receives compensation for presenting content items to users included in the target group (e.g., advertisements specifying inclusion in the target group in targeting criteria), the online system 140 determines 320 a monetization value for the target group based on an amount of revenue received by the online system 140 from presenting content items to users because the users are included in the target group. For example, the online system 140 determines 320 the monetization value as an average revenue received by the online system 140 over a time interval for presenting content items to users based on the users' inclusion in the target group. As another example, the online system 140 determines 320 the monetization value as a total amount of revenue received by the online system 140 during a time interval for presenting content items to users based on the users' inclusion in the target group.

When determining 320 the monetization value for the target group, the online system 140 may allocate revenue received by the online system 140 from presenting a content item among multiple target groups specified by targeting criteria associated with the content item. For example, if the content item is eligible for presentation to a user because the user is included in multiple target groups, the amount of revenue received by the online system from presenting the content item is allocated among each of the target groups. In one embodiment, the amount of revenue received by the online system 140 is divided by the number of target groups in the targeting criteria including the user to generate a value, with each target group including the user allocated the value from dividing the amount of revenue by the number of target groups. However, in other embodiments, the amount of revenue received by the online system 140 from presenting a content item may be allocated amount multiple target groups including the user and specified by targeting criteria associated with the content item using any suitable method. When determining 320 the monetization value for the target group, the amount of revenue received by the online system 140 allocated to the target group for presenting a content item is used rather than the total amount of revenue received by the online system 140 for presenting the content item.

In various embodiments, the online system 140 accounts for different objectives of content items that specify the target group in targeting criteria when determining 320 the monetization value for the target group. As described above in conjunction with FIG. 2, different objectives for presentation of a content item are satisfied by different interactions with the content item, so certain objectives are more easily satisfied than others. For example, an objective for a user presented with a content item to express a preference for an object associated with the content item is more likely to be satisfied than an objective for a user presented with the content item to provide a post to the object associated with the content item because the objective to express a preference for the object associated with the content item is satisfied when the user performs a simpler or easier interaction that is more likely to be performed by online system users. To account for the differences in satisfying different objectives, the online system 140 accounts for objectives associated with content items that are presented to users based on whether the users are included in the target group when determining 320 the monetization score for the target group. As further described below, the monetization score for the target group is based on an objective score determined as an amount of revenue received by the online system 140 for presenting content items to users because the users are included in the target group associated with an objective per received interaction from the users presented with the content items that satisfy the objective weighted by a value indicating a difficulty in satisfying the objective weighted; combining objective scores for various objectives associated with content items presented to users because the user are included in the target group allows the online system 140 to determine 320 the monetization score for the target group.

When determining 320 the monetization score for the target group, the online system 140 identifies objectives associated with various content items specifying presentation to users included in the target group. For example, the online system 140 identifies one or more objectives associated with each content item that includes the targeting group in targeting criteria. For an identified objective, the online system 140 determines a revenue ratio of an amount of revenue received by the online system 140 during a time interval from presenting content items to users because the users are included in the target group to a total amount of revenue received by the online system 140 during the time interval for presenting content items and also determines an objective ratio of a number of received interactions with content items presented to users because the users are in the target group that satisfied the identified objective to the amount of revenue received by the online system 140 during a time interval from presenting content items associated with the identified objective to users because the users are in the target group. When determining amounts or revenue received by the online system 140 for presenting a content item to a user because the user is in the target group, the online system 140 may allocate a portion of the revenue received by the online system 140 to the target group if the user was included in multiple target groups, as further described above. Additionally, the online system 140 determines a scaling value as a ratio of a total revenue received by the online system 140 for presenting content items associated with the identified objective during the time interval to a total number of interactions by online system users with content items associated with the identified objective during the time interval that satisfy the identified objective. The online system 140 calculates an objective score for the identified objective as a product of the revenue ratio, the objective ratio, and the scaling value. As different objectives may be satisfied by more infrequent interactions with content items, the scaling factor accounts for the infrequency with which certain objectives are satisfied without excessively penalizing content items associated with more difficult to satisfy objectives.

To determine 320 the monetization value of the target group, the online system 140 calculates objective scores for multiple identified objectives associated with at least one content item presented to a user because the user is included in the target group and determines 320 the monetization score for the target group as a sum of the objective scores. For example, the online system 140 calculates an objective score for each identified objective associated with at least one content item presented to one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group and determines 320 the monetization score for the target group as a sum of the objective scores. Alternatively, the online system 140 selects a set of the identified objectives and determines 320 the monetization score for the target group as a sum of the objective scores for objectives in the selected set. However, in various embodiments, the monetization score is determined 320 through any suitable combination of objective scores for objectives associated with content items presented to one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group.

In some embodiments, the online system 140 determines a performance metric for the target group in addition to, or in place of, determining the monetization score for the target group. The performance metric for the target group describes interactions with content items presented to users because the users are included in the target group and is also based at least in part on objectives associated with content items presented to users because the users are included in the target group. The online system 140 identifies objectives associated with various content items specifying presentation to users included in the target group. For example, the online system 140 identifies one or more objectives associated with each content item that includes the targeting group in targeting criteria. For an identified objective, the online system 140 determines an impression ratio of a number of times the online system presented content items to users because the users are included in the target group to a total number of times the online system presented content items to the users of the online system during the time interval and also determines an objective to impression ratio of a number of received interactions with content items presented to users because the users are in the target group that satisfied the identified objective to the total number of times the online system presented content items to the users of the online system during the time interval. Additionally, the online system 140 determines an impression scaling value as a ratio of the total number of times the online system 140 presented content items associated with the identified objective during the time interval to a total number of interactions by online system users with content items associated with the identified objective during the time interval that satisfy the identified objective. The online system 140 calculates an impression score for the identified objective as a product of the impression ratio, the objective to impression ratio, and the impression scaling value. Similar to the scaling factor, the impression scaling value factor accounts for the infrequency with which certain objectives are satisfied without excessively penalizing content items associated with more difficult to satisfy objectives.

To determine the performance metric of the target group, the online system 140 calculates impression scores for multiple identified objectives associated with at least one content item presented to a user because the user is included in the target group and determines the performance metric for the target group as a sum of the objective scores. For example, the online system 140 calculates an impression for each identified objective associated with at least one content item presented to one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group and determines 320 the monetization score for the target group as a sum of the impression scores. Alternatively, the online system 140 selects a set of the identified objectives and determines the monetization score for the target group as a sum of the impression scores for objectives in the selected set.

The performance metric may be communicated to the third party system 130 that described the target group, allowing the third party system 130 to evaluate performance of the target group. Additionally, the online system 140 may store the performance metric in association with the target group and use the performance metric when subsequently presenting content to users. For example, if a content item including the target group in associated targeting criteria is selected for presentation to the user, the online system 140 uses the performance metric of the target groups when determining a location for presenting the content item. As an example, content items including a target group having a greater performance metric in targeting criteria are presented in more prominent locations (e.g., within a feed of other content items) than content items including a target group having a lower performance metric in targeting criteria (which may be presented in less-visible locations, such as adjacent to the feed of content items). As higher performance metrics for a target group indicate more frequent interactions with content items presented to users because the users are in the target group that satisfy objectives of the content items, presenting content items specifying the target group in targeting criteria in more prominent locations may increase overall user interaction with content presented by the online system 140.

In additional embodiments, the online system 140 determines 320 the monetization value based on one or more of: a total revenue to the online system 140 for presenting content to users in the target group during a time interval, an average revenue to the online system 140 for presenting content to users in the target group over the time interval, a total number of content items associated with targeting criteria specifying inclusion in the target group presented to users in the target group during the time interval, and an average number of content items associated with targeting criteria specifying inclusion in the target group presented to users in the target group during the time interval. The online system 140 may determine 320 the monetization value as a square root of a product of an average revenue to the online system 140 for presenting content to users in the target group over the time interval, a total number of content items associated with targeting criteria specifying inclusion in the target group presented to users in the target group during the time interval, and an average number of content items associated with targeting criteria specifying inclusion in the target group presented to users in the target group during the time interval.

Based on the monetization value for the target group, the online system 140 determines 325 whether to continue storing 310 the information describing the target group. For example, if the monetization value equals or exceeds a threshold value, the online system 140 continues storing 310 the information describing the online system 140. However, if the monetization value is less than the threshold amount, the online system 140 discards the information describing the target group.

The online system 140 may periodically determine 320 the monetization value for the target group to determine 325 whether to continue storing the information describing the target group. Alternatively, the online system 140 determines 320 the monetization value associated with the target group when a content item identifying inclusion in the target group as targeting criteria is presented to one or more users included in the target group. Determining a monetization value associated with the target group allows the online system 140 to maintain information describing target groups providing at least a threshold amount of revenue to the online system 140 while discarding information describing target groups that do not provide sufficient revenue to the online system 140.

SUMMARY

The foregoing description of embodiments has been presented for the purpose of illustration; it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the patent rights to the precise forms disclosed. Persons skilled in the relevant art can appreciate that many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above disclosure.

Some portions of this description describe embodiments in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on information. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are commonly used by those skilled in the data processing arts to convey the substance of their work effectively to others skilled in the art. These operations, while described functionally, computationally, or logically, are understood to be implemented by computer programs or equivalent electrical circuits, microcode, or the like. Furthermore, it has also proven convenient at times, to refer to these arrangements of operations as modules, without loss of generality. The described operations and their associated modules may be embodied in software, firmware, hardware, or any combinations thereof.

Any of the steps, operations, or processes described herein may be performed or implemented with one or more hardware or software modules, alone or in combination with other devices. In one embodiment, a software module is implemented with a computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium containing computer program code, which can be executed by a computer processor for performing any or all of the steps, operations, or processes described.

Embodiments may also relate to an apparatus for performing the operations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes, and/or it may comprise a general-purpose computing device selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium, or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions, which may be coupled to a computer system bus. Furthermore, any computing systems referred to in the specification may include a single processor or may be architectures employing multiple processor designs for increased computing capability.

Embodiments may also relate to a product that is produced by a computing process described herein. Such a product may comprise information resulting from a computing process, where the information is stored on a non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium and may include any embodiment of a computer program product or other data combination described herein.

Finally, the language used in the specification has been principally selected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter. It is therefore intended that the scope of the patent rights be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue on an application based hereon. Accordingly, the disclosure of embodiments is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the patent rights, which is set forth in the following claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, at an online system, information from a third party system identifying a target group including a plurality of users of the online system, the received information describing characteristics of the plurality of users eligible to be presented with content items by the online system; storing, at the online system, the information received from the third party system describing the target group; selecting content items associated with objectives for presentation to one or more users of the online system, an objective established by the online system and associated with a content item specifying a goal for presentation of the content item, one or more of the content items specifying the target group and selected for presentation to users because the users are included in the target group; presenting the content items selected for presentation to the one or more users of the online system, one or more of the content items specifying the target group and selected for presentation to users because the users are included in the target group, while other content items do not specify the target group; determining a monetization value associated with the target group, the monetization value based at least in part on: one or more amounts of revenue to the online system from presenting the content items associated with one or more objectives, the one or more objectives established by the online system, one or more amounts of revenue to the online system from presenting the content items associated with the one or more objectives and that specified the target group that were selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group, and a number of received interactions with content items associated with the one or more objectives and that specified the target group that were selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group that satisfy at least one of the one or more objectives associated with the content items that specified the target group that were selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group; comparing the monetization value associated with the target group to a threshold value; removing the stored information received from the third party system describing the target group from the online system in response to the comparing determining that the monetization value associated with the target group is less than the threshold value; and maintaining the stored information received from the third party system describing the target group at the online system in response to the comparing determining that the monetization value associated with the target group equals or exceeds the threshold value.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the monetization value is based at least in part on: an amount of revenue to the online system from presenting content items selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group, one or more amounts of revenue to the online system from presenting content items associated with one or more objectives, one or more amounts of revenue to the online system from presenting content items associated with the one or more objectives selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group, a number of received interactions with content items associated with the one or more objectives satisfying at least one of the one or more objectives, and the number of received interactions with content items associated with the one or more objectives selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group that satisfy at least one of the one or more objectives.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the monetization value associated with the target group comprises: identifying one or more objectives associated with at least one content item that uses the target group to identify users eligible to be presented with the content item; for each of a set of the identified one or more objectives: determining a revenue ratio for an identified objective as a ratio of an amount of revenue to the online system from presenting content items associated with the identified objective that selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group during a time interval to a total amount of revenue to the online system from presenting content items associated with the one or more objectives to users during the time interval; determining an objective ratio for the identified objective as a ratio of a number of received interactions with content items associated with the identified objective selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group that satisfied the identified objective during the time interval to the amount of revenue to the online system from presenting content items associated with the identified objective that selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group during the time interval; determining a scaling value as a ratio of a total amount of revenue to the online system during the time interval for presenting content items associated with the identified objective during the time interval to a total number of interactions with content items associated with the identified objective during the time interval that satisfied the identified objective; and determining a score for the identified objective as a product of the revenue ratio, the objective ratio, and the scaling value; and determining the monetization score as a sum of scores for each identified objective in the set.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the monetization value associated with the target group comprises: identifying one or more objectives associated with at least one content item that uses the target group to identify users eligible to be presented with the content item; for each of the identified one or more objectives: determining a revenue ratio for an identified objective as a ratio of an amount of revenue to the online system from presenting content items associated with the identified objective that selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group during a time interval to a total amount of revenue to the online system from presenting content items associated with the one or more objectives to users during the time interval; determining an objective ratio for the identified objective as a ratio of a number of received interactions with content items associated with the identified objective selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group that satisfied the identified objective during the time interval to the amount of revenue to the online system from presenting content items associated with the identified objective that selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group during the time interval; determining a scaling value as a ratio of a total amount of revenue to the online system during the time interval for presenting content items associated with the identified objective during the time interval to a total number of interactions with content items associated with the identified objective during the time interval that satisfied the identified objective; and determining a score for the identified objective as a product of the revenue ratio, the objective ratio, and the scaling value; and determining the monetization score as a sum of scores for the identified objectives.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the monetization value associated with the target group comprises: determining whether the content item was selected for presentation to a user because the user was included in the target group and included in one or more additional target groups; allocating portions of an amount of revenue to the online system from presenting the content item to the user among the target group and the one or more additional target groups; and determining the monetization value associated with the target group based at least in part on an amount of revenue to the online system from presenting content items associated with an objective associated with the content item determined based on part on a portion of the amount of revenue to the online system from presenting the content item to the user allocated to the target group.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein allocating portions of the amount of revenue to the online system from presenting the content to the user among the target group and the one or more additional target groups comprises: determining total number of target groups including the user based on the target group and the one or more additional target groups; generating a value by dividing the amount of revenue to the online system from presenting the content to the user by the total number of target groups; and allocating the value to the target group.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein allocating portions of the amount of revenue to the online system from presenting the content to the user among the target group and the one or more additional target groups further comprises: allocating the value to each of the one or more additional target groups.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether to remove the information received from the third party system describing the target group based at least in part on the monetization value associated with the target group comprises: storing the information received from the third party system describing the target group if the monetization value associated with the target group equals or exceeds a threshold value.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein an objective is selected from a group consisting of: accessing a content item, installing an application associated with the content item on a client device, installing the application associated with the content item on a specific type of client device, expressing a preference for an object associated with the content item, expressing a preference for the content item, viewing an object associated with the content item, performing an action on a third party system associated with the content item, and any combination thereof.
 10. A computer program product comprising a computer readable non-transitory storage medium having instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to: receive, at an online system, information from a third party system describing identifying a target group including a plurality of users of the online system, the received information describing characteristics of the plurality of users eligible to be presented with content items by the online system; store, at the online system, the information received from the third party system describing the target group; select content items associated with objectives for presentation to one or more users of the online system, an objective established by the online system and associated with a content item specifying a goal for presentation of the content item, one or more of the content items specifying the target group and selected for presentation to users because the users are included in the target group; present the content items selected for presentation to the one or more users of the online system, one or more of the content items specifying the target group and selected for presentation to users because the users are included in the target group, while other content items do not specify the target group; determine a monetization value associated with the target group, the monetization value based at least in part on: an amount of revenue to the online system from presenting content items selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group specified by one or more content items, one or more amounts of revenue to the online system from presenting the content items associated with one or more objectives, the one or more objectives established by the online system, one or more amounts of revenue to the online system from presenting the content items associated with the one or more objectives and that specified the target group that were selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group, a number of received interactions with content items associated with the one or more objectives satisfying at least one of the one or more objectives, and a number of received interactions with the content items associated with the one or more objectives selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group that satisfy at least one of the one or more objectives associated with the content items that specified the target group that were selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group; compare the monetization value associated with the target group to a threshold value; remove the stored information received from the third party system describing the target group from the online system in response to the comparing determining that the monetization value associated with the target group is less than the threshold value; and maintain the stored information received from the third party system describing the target group at the online system in response to the comparing determining that the monetization value associated with the target group equals or exceeds the threshold value.
 11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein determine the monetization value associated with the target group comprises: identify one or more objectives associated with at least one content item that uses the target group to identify users eligible to be presented with the content item; for each of a set of the identified one or more objectives: determine a revenue ratio for an identified objective as a ratio of an amount of revenue to the online system from presenting content items associated with the identified objective that selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group during a time interval to a total amount of revenue to the online system from presenting content items associated with the one or more objectives to users during the time interval; determine an objective ratio for the identified objective as a ratio of a number of received interactions with content items associated with the identified objective selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group that satisfied the identified objective during the time interval to the amount of revenue to the online system from presenting content items associated with the identified objective that selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group during the time interval; determine a scaling value as a ratio of a total amount of revenue to the online system during the time interval for presenting content items associated with the identified objective during the time interval to a total number of interactions with content items associated with the identified objective during the time interval that satisfied the identified objective; and determine a score for the identified objective as a product of the revenue ratio, the objective ratio, and the scaling value; and determine the monetization score as a sum of scores for each identified objective in the set.
 12. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein determine the monetization value associated with the target group comprises: identify one or more objectives associated with at least one content item that uses the target group to identify users eligible to be presented with the content item; for each of the identified one or more objectives: determine a revenue ratio for an identified objective as a ratio of an amount of revenue to the online system from presenting content items associated with the identified objective that selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group during a time interval to a total amount of revenue to the online system from presenting content items associated with the one or more objectives to users during the time interval; determine an objective ratio for the identified objective as a ratio of a number of received interactions with content items associated with the identified objective selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group that satisfied the identified objective during the time interval to the amount of revenue to the online system from presenting content items associated with the identified objective that selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group during the time interval; determine a scaling value as a ratio of a total amount of revenue to the online system during the time interval for presenting content items associated with the identified objective during the time interval to a total number of interactions with content items associated with the identified objective during the time interval that satisfied the identified objective; and determine a score for the identified objective as a product of the revenue ratio, the objective ratio, and the scaling value; and determine the monetization score as a sum of scores for the identified objectives.
 13. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein an objective is selected from a group consisting of: accessing a content item, installing an application associated with the content item on a client device, installing the application associated with the content item on a specific type of client device, expressing a preference for an object associated with the content item, expressing a preference for the content item, viewing an object associated with the content item, performing an action on a third party system associated with the content item, and any combination thereof. 